Insulation blankets formed from mineral fibers, very often fiberglass, are well known and have long been used for building insulation. The blanket is typically formed from glass fibers, which are often bound together using a resinous material.
Generally, the insulation blankets are packaged in sizes conforming to standard sizes of structural framework building cavities formed by wall studs, roof rafters, and the like. For example, the typical spacing between many framing members used in residential houses is approximately 14 ½ inches. Therefore, insulation blankets are normally manufactured to be about 15 inches in width. However, in any installation job, there are usually several occurrences where the spacing between framing members will depart from the standard width. Where this occurs, an installer will typically cut the insulation blanket with a knife to the appropriate width to fit the nonstandard-sized cavity. Not only does this make the installation more labor intensive, but it also often results in gapping or otherwise improperly fitted insulation.
Different insulation products have been developed which address the problem of nonstandard-sized cavities. A few of these products are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,594 to Weinstein et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,615 to Weinstein et al. Additional separable insulation products are described in an application entitled “Separable Fibrous Insulation”, application Ser. No. 10/690,295 filed on Oct. 21, 2003 in the name of Toas et al., which is incorporated by reference herein. The latter application discloses separable fibrous insulation that is initially severed into separate lanes of insulation of various widths, and thereafter the separate lanes of insulation are adhered together using an adhesive material to form a separable batt of insulation.
What is desired is an efficient, cost productive apparatus and method for adhering together separate lanes of insulation or other compressible products.